Product Photography - up a notch!

[ed_o_brain]

We had a new starter today at DC Tog towers.

It's a pity that he turned up on his first day in bits.
And even more so that he didn't bother to wear any clothes!!


 





I must admit, I wish I had his torso:

[rogerzilla]

Just keep him away from Regulator, or he won't be fit to model anything except a thousand-yard stare.

[Tewdric]

You've nailed the lighting on the face - just a tiny bit flat and overblown highlights on the temple on the wide shot maybe?  I'm being very picky because you are clearly taking this seriously and it's no use if everyone just says they are great!

Your photoshop challenge now is to morph a forumite's features on to one of them and post it in Caption It!

[Woofage]

Very impressive, especially the head & shoulders shot. What was the setup if you don't mind me asking?

[ed_o_brain]

These shots were a bit of a rush job just to generate some guff for my blog so the lighting wasn't spot on.

I used a studio flash with a large beauty dish camera right and a honeycombed snoot camera left as a hair light. This setup was really for the second shot with the mannequin unclothed.

I should have swapped the beauty dish and the snoot around for the first shot below with the mannequin clothed.

Ideally, I'd work with a bit more space and pull the subject further away from the background. And then probably used a third light in front of the subject for low level fill and dropped the light levels from the beauty dish on camera right. Really there should be two to three stop difference between the highlights and low lights where as here I wound up with three-four.

That said, I'm pleased with the results.

[Tewdric]

These shots were a bit of a rush job just to generate some guff for my blog so the lighting wasn't spot on.

I used a studio flash with a large beauty dish camera right and a honeycombed snoot camera left as a hair light. This setup was really for the second shot with the mannequin unclothed.

I should have swapped the beauty dish and the snoot around for the first shot below with the mannequin clothed.

Ideally, I'd work with a bit more space and pull the subject further away from the background. And then probably used a third light in front of the subject for low level fill and dropped the light levels from the beauty dish on camera right. Really there should be two to three stop difference between the highlights and low lights where as here I wound up with three-four.

That said, I'm pleased with the results.

The background is on Zone 0 so the distance is immaterial.  These two shots are chalk and cheese:  The head is superbly lit, really, really interesting, tonal range spot-on, superb modelling and no blown highlights.  It's a professional standard lighting effort.  Given an attractive model in place of the dummy and it could be a great stock earner.  The torso shot is very, very weak in comparison and technically dubious.

[ed_o_brain]

Thanks for the feedback.

The background isn't quite zone 0, despite flagging the beauty dish... it was re-touched in PP. Some of the highlights in the head and shoulders image were also burned slightly in PP as they looked a little too blown for me.

I don't think the composition of the nude mannequin is as strong, and the lighting on the top right of the torso is a bit hot .. compensating really for the fact I'm not using any fill light. If the mannequin has a rotating neck I'd keep the head where is is and move the body slightly further around, clockwise as you look down on it.

How would you improve it?

[rogerzilla]

This is getting too technical for me...I think I need a Holga.

[Tewdric]

Thanks for the feedback.

The background isn't quite zone 0, despite flagging the beauty dish... it was re-touched in PP. Some of the highlights in the head and shoulders image were also burned slightly in PP as they looked a little too blown for me.

I don't think the composition of the nude mannequin is as strong, and the lighting on the top right of the torso is a bit hot .. compensating really for the fact I'm not using any fill light. If the mannequin has a rotating neck I'd keep the head where is is and move the body slightly further around, clockwise as you look down on it.

How would you improve it?

I'd try it low key with the main light down a stop.  The snooted fill seems fine. Perhaps a lastolite low left to push a bit of light back into the armpit area?  I'd pull back a bit to get the whole torso and arms in shot too.

[ed_o_brain]

@Rog Holga sounds like a fun thing to play with. Still hankering after one.

@Tewdric, thanks for the feedback.

Will is getting good use already.

[ed_o_brain]

Festive Will by Daniel Cadden Photo, on Flickr

[rogerzilla]

I hate to tell you this, but I think Will may be batting for the other side.